Online Resources for Koreanists 3.0

South Korea has the highest percentage in the world of its population regularly using a high-speed internet connection. Living, working, and researching in and/or about Korea means being online and being fast. One does not have to spend long talking about or being in the country before hearing or saying, “빨리빨리 (p’alli p’alli, quickly quickly).” Although a cliché, quick and online are notable features — for better and worse — of the research context in Korea.

There are a number of university, government, quasi-government, and private business sites that are rapidly expanding their online content. As I learned during my dissertation fieldwork in Seoul, expanding access to information is a byproduct of the competition among private, public, and those in-between to increase their online profiles. However, some of these resources require a paid and/or institutional subscription. I include some of those resources in my list below to reflect what has accrued funding and/or searchable data, but mostly try to include non-subscription and at least partially open access academic and media sources. These resources exist in Korean and/or English and sometimes in other languages; all languages are underlined. They are also multidisciplinary — including film, folklore, history, humanities, K-Pop, law, literature, religion, social sciences, and women’s history.

The academic resource list appears alphabetically with a short introduction, and is divided according to language — Korean resources appearing first, followed by English ones. It is meant to supplement the numerous university library sites and particular journals that researchers may already be familiar with such as the Korea Journal and Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus. Both of these journals provide public access to full-length articles in their archives. For those less familiar with academic journals in Korea, note that Korea Citation Index (KCI) journals are mostly in Korean, but articles sometimes do appear in other languages.

The media resource list is subdivided into portals, major dailies, television/video, religious news, and critical social/political categories though these are becoming less and less mutually exclusive with languages specified and URLs provided. These lists are in no way exhaustive; they are merely a reflection of what I, and others whom I have known, have found useful. Taken another way, the media resource list is a snapshot of what is funded and regularly updated in and/or about Korea.

Special thanks to Martin Bale, Javier Cha, Chad Futrell, Ju Hui Judy Han, Samuel Henderson, Roger L. Janelli, Roberta Jenkins, Youngnan Nan Kim, Blaz Kriznik, Candice Lee, Kyounghee Moon, William Pore, Bradley Tatar, Matty Wegehaupt, and Dafna Zur for their kind suggestions, and I assume responsibility for any omissions or mistakes. An earlier version of this list appeared in the Korea Foundation Newsletter and I wish to acknowledge the foundation for its considerable support. I also wish to thank the Department of Anthropology and Archaeology at the University of Otago in New Zealand for hosting me as a visiting scholar while I worked on this piece. I welcome feedback in the form of critiques, additions, or subtractions at koyangi.in.korea@gmail.com. [Ed. note: Please feel free also to direct queries at info@dissertationreviews.org.]

Academic Resources

AKS (Academy of Korean Studies)– One of the most respected and publicly run databases of Korean Studies’ resources; Korean, English, Japanese, Chinese, Spanish, Russian.

DATA – This site offers public information from the South Korean government. It is run by the Ministry of Security and Public Administration. All the information and documents from the Korea Knowledge Portal have moved to this site; Korean, English

Early Koreanists — a Google Group (similar to a listserv) for those who study and teach about Early Korea (pre-10th century AD). One can see the archived content of all the discussion.

Google Scholar — Private database run by Google not confined to Korea; Korean/English.

Harvard University Early Korea Project (EKP) — contains information and data on Early Korea, the mission statement and work of the project, the publications of the project, a detailed archive of all EKP events, journal indexes, historiography, images, and studies. Upcoming events are also found on the site, as are links, news stories on Early Korea, and more. One can also link to our Facebook page and Twitter feed from the website.

KCI (Korea Citation Index)– The South Korean government’s official academic citation index. The site shows citation data and works as a Korean academic database portal; Korean, English

Korean Archaeological Society — contains PDFs of all Hanguk Kogo Hakbo articles going back to the 1970s as well as all kinds of information on the very large, burgeoning, and lively field of Korean archaeology in Korea. There are actually many learned societies such as this and all of them have good websites full of useful information and data.

Korean Film Archive (KOFA) — The only nationwide film archive in South Korea. They are a non-profit organization that is a full member of the International Federation of Film Archives. They have offline libraries and museums in Bucheon, Busan, Seongnam, and Seoul and a growing online database and online film streaming service; Korean/English.

Kyujanggak Institute of Korean Studies (KIKS) — Part of Seoul National University and run through the Kyujanggak Archives and the Institute of Korean Studies. Many of their materials are from the end of the Joseon dynasty to early modern times, but they are expanding; Korean/English.

National Digital Library Database — Links more than 70 databases from eight Korean universities and the largest online source of pre-1950 Korea materials, particularly rich in the Japanese Occupation period; Korean.

NIA (National Information Society Agency)– This is a public organization that works on IT-based government business. It offers various IT information, and it runs several public sites such as DATA; Korean, English

National Library of Korea — The largest single housing of volumes and historical documents in Korea with growing electronic capacites; Korean/English.

Seoul Museum of History — The public Seoul City museum, which focuses primarily on historical and cultural artifacts. They have a growing number of exhibitions and collections such as one devoted to Chunggyecheon with an online searchable catalog; Korean/English/Chinese/Japanese.

Frank Hoffman’s Korean Studies — Portal that includes lists of internet resources on a variety of Korea-related topics as well as a long-standing Korean Studies discussion board and review; English.

Portal to Asian Internet Resources (PAIR) — Searchable by atlas (East to Central Asia) and by keyword (from agriculture to human rights) and cooperatively operated by Ohio State University libraries, University of Minnesota libraries, and University of Wisconsin at Madison libraries; English.

RISS (Research Information Sharing Service)– It is one of the biggest academic database portals offered by KERIS (Korea Education and Research Information Service). All four-year Korean universities participate to share research data; Korean

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